Wintermelon Tea Cupcakes

Today, I am going to answer a very important question. This question, I believe, has been bugging you for quite sometime now. It may have given you sleepless nights and anxiety, it may have troubled you almost incessantly, and it may have caused your inattentiveness at work. I do not want to continue causing that.

So here I am, addressing your question:

What do I do with all the cakes, cupcakes, and other desserts I've been making once I've posted it up online?

But before I answer that, let's make mini cupcakes first. Today's recipe, I must admit, is a mouthful: Wintermelon Tea Mini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese

Frosting Topped with Homemade Lemon Marmalade Drizzled with Wintermelon Tea Syrup.

From here on, let's just call it Wintermelon Tea Mini Cupcakes, or the cupcakes. Saves time.

I got my winter melon tea bar from my friend, Gene. I've never seen anything like it. Tea turned into a bar. How cool is that? According to Gene, what is usually done with it is to melt the bar, add ice, bring out a fancy straw and enjoy. But I usually go the road less traveled and decided to make cupcakes from it.

Hmmm what goes well with wintermelon tea? Lemon is okay, right? And oh, throw in cream cheese and we have a winner.

But first, where to find a recipe? My plan is to make syrup out of the bar and use it as the sugar substitute. I looked for a recipe which calls for a liquid sweetener and found this:

A recipe for agave cupcakes at Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Instead of agave, I will use the syrup. Sweet!

Wintermelon Tea Cupcakes
adapted from Simple Vanilla and Agave Nectar Cupcakes (Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

325F/makes 30 mini cupcakes

2/3 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup wintermelon tea syrup
1/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
(1) To make syrup, bring 2 cups of water to a boil and melt one wintermelon tea bar until liquid is reduced to 1 1/3 cup (just use half of this for the recipe)
(2) Sift all dry ingredients together.
(3) In a large bowl, mix the milk and apple cider vinegar in a large bowl.
(4) Let it sit for 5 minutes to allow it to curdle
(5) Add in the syrup, oil and vanilla extract.
(6) Mix in dry ingredients, be mindful of lumps. I used a strainer to get rid of it from my batter.
(7) Fill liners two thirds full. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean

Note from the book:
(1) Don't overbake or cupcakes will be dry.
(2) These cupcakes need to cool at least an hour before topping or filling, and also to develop the flavor and texture properly.

For the cheese frosting, I used this recipe.

For the lemon marmalade, I made my own. For the first time. I'm glad I did, I had rave reviews about it. Pinky Swear. I got the recipe from Erin of Yummy Supper. Now I have a big bottle of lemon marmalade I intend to spread on a buttered toast for breakfast. Indulgence is life. But wait, I should assemble the cupcakes first.

To assemble:

Ice the cupcakes with cream cheese frosting using a big round tip

Spread half a teaspoon full of marmalade on top of the frosting

Drizzle with the remaining syrup

That's all folks! Till the next recipe!

Oh wait, yeah. You were waiting for me to answer your question. I thought I totally distracted you. I was wrong, silly me.

Bake Happy goodies go out to who I call my Bake Happy Friends. My family, friends, classmates, officemates, buildingmates and officemates. Sweet, right?

Sneak peek. For this recipe, I made 60 mini cupcakes. See? This is before....

 and this is almost right before after. :)

These went to my officemates, who dearly loved the unique flavor (Buti na lang, otherwise it'll go to waste :))

Have a great pre-weekend-Thursday everyone!